How outsourcing can help provide 24/7 support to your customers

It is somewhat ironic that one of the greatest conveniences for customers happens to be one of the greatest challenges for businesses. The concept of 24/7 customer support, once considered a bonus offering, has evolved in recent times to become a necessity as consumers increasingly expect to address issues at the time of their liking. Look no further than a study that found 57% of customers expect the same response time at night and on weekends as during normal business hours¹.

Of course, the challenge for businesses is resourcing. Around-the-clock customer support requires an investment in people and technology that can often prove out of reach for many small to medium operations. The thought of addressing customer concerns outside the traditional window of eight hours a day, five days a week can be daunting and result in operators putting 24/7 support in the too-hard basket.

There is another option though and it lies with outsourcing. Partnering with offshore providers that specialize in customer support services has consistently been shown to improve productivity, reduce costs and, crucially, increase customer satisfaction. Read on to discover the importance of 24/7 customer support and how outsourcing can make it a reality for organizations of all shapes and sizes.

What is 24/7 customer support?

24/7 customer support is the ability to provide customers with assistance and answers to their questions at any time of the day or night. It typically involves a cross-section of resources including human agents, chatbots, knowledge bases, FAQs and live chat. It is especially necessary for businesses that operate internationally as traditional hours (eg: 9am-5pm) are not the same from one time zone to another.

^{Source: 100+ Customer Service Statistics You Should Know - Document360}

What are the advantages of 24/7 customer support?

24/7 customer support delivers numerous benefits for businesses including:

• Increased customer satisfaction: did you know 65% of shoppers believe a positive customer experience is more influential than great advertising²? Providing those shoppers with around-the-clock support is a simple way to boost customer experience and certainly more cost-effective than expensive advertising campaigns. Fast, reliable and accessible service is essential for driving higher customer satisfaction.
• Improved customer retention: studies have shown it costs businesses up to five times more to acquire new customers than retain those they already have³. Providing 24/7 support gives existing customers one less reason to consider looking elsewhere for their goods and services. It also makes them feel more valued by a business and, in turn, more likely to recommend it to others.
• Meeting customer expectation: as previously highlighted, today’s customers are likely to be disappointed at not being able to access 24/7 support. Research has found 90% of customers rate an ‘immediate’ response to be an important factor when seeking customer service assistance, with 60% of those customers considering ‘immediate’ to be within 10 minutes⁴. Such service requires a 24/7 approach to customer support.
• Better brand awareness: savvy business leaders appreciate the benefits of positive brand awareness and 24/7 customer support is a key part of establishing confidence among consumers. Knowing they can seek assistance whenever they want is a great way to earn a customer’s trust and enhance a business’s standing with the public.

How can outsourcing be leveraged to boost 24/7 customer support?

Outsourcing providers have a proud history of positively impacting various customer support functions. These include:

• Order processing:  few things harm customer goodwill like an inability to process orders in a timely and efficient manner. Leveraging an offshore team allows businesses to not only move orders around the clock but respond to customer enquiries faster and instill greater confidence by providing shipping updates in a timely manner.
• Customer service: the high cost of labor in many Western countries makes it unrealistic for many businesses to provide 24/7 customer service. Fortunately, they can tap into outsourcing hotspots such as the Philippines where a lower cost of living means it is possible to recruit quality staff to provide increased hours of support.
• Technical support: customers are not always reaching out to complain or chase up an order. Often it is simply a case of seeking assistance with a technical aspect of a product or website. Rather than force them to wait until traditional business hours, outsourcing can be leveraged to ensure they can address their concerns in real-time.
• Bookings: studies have found that companies that offer 24/7 customer service have an average occupancy rate of 98% compared to 30% for those that have traditional eight-hour windows⁵. Such results can be game-changing for travel and hospitality businesses, which is why many leverage the power of outsourcing to boost their support teams.
• Patient administration: hospitals are the epitome of 24/7 operations, with clinicians working around the clock to ensure the care of their patients. In the modern world, this is also the case for their administrative colleagues as health consumers want the ability to make enquiries and book appointments outside normal work hours. Offshoring allows healthcare providers to meet such needs within existing budgets.

^{Source: Top 9 reasons why you should outsource your customer service (partnerhero.com)}

What are the benefits of outsourcing 24/7 customer support?

Outsourcing is a proven strategy for helping make 24/7 customer support a reality, with the benefits of partnering with an offshore provider including:

• Sustainable growth: one of the most common reasons businesses give for not providing 24/7 customer support is money, which is not surprising given the cost of labor in Western nations. The good news is destinations such as the Philippines allow businesses to access labor cost savings of up to 70% and time zones that complement their internal workforces, all of which enhance opportunities for sustainable growth.
• Increased availability: remember the days when an office visit or phone call were the only means for customers to make an enquiry? That reach now extends across a range of technologies that are not beholden to ‘opening hours’ and it is essential for businesses to have enough agents on hand to provide the necessary responses. Outsourcing customer support to offshore providers creates the around-the-clock availability today’s consumers expect.
• Specialist support: sometimes lost amid the cost benefits of outsourcing customer support is the expert capabilities of offshore agents. A nation such as the Philippines boasts a large population of highly skilled university graduates, many of whom are targeted by outsourcing providers with a vested interest in nurturing quality talent pools and become frontline customer support for onshore clients.
• Enhance in-house teams: the very nature of customer support means some enquiries and concerns are more complex than others and thus require more investigation or specialist care. Outsourcing allows managers to direct simpler issues to less experienced offshore staff and in-house teams to dedicate more time and focus to difficult or critical issues. Along with benefiting customers, experienced team members receive a boost by increasingly focusing on more rewarding tasks.
• Scalability: while spikes in business activity are typically welcome, they can lead to businesses to no longer be able to meet their customer support needs. Outsourcing helps navigate this issue by allowing managers to seamlessly scale staffing numbers up or down as quality providers are well versed in recruiting, onboarding and training.

Why the Philippines leads in 24/7 customer support outsourcing

For the vast majority of businesses, it should no longer be a question of whether to implement 24/7 customer support but how to make it happen. With so many benefits to be gained by providing customers with around-the-clock assistance, there has never been a better time to implement an outsourcing strategy that not only elevates customer experience to the level it deserves but does so in a manner that is cost-effective and highly efficient.

Offshoring is an attractive option for businesses looking to cut costs, improve productivity and focus more on core activities – but not all countries are equally suitable. Discover nine reasons the Philippines ticks more boxes than other outsourcing destinations.